top

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Chinese embassy adventures

We had already gone to the Chinese embassy in Bangkok and seeing how busy and manic it was over there we decided to try our luck in Chiang Mai. A quick tuk-tuk ride took us from our guesthouse to the embassy. At 9am on Monday only a few people were around filling up the form to obtain the very valuable Chinese visa. It was nothing compared to the rushed and stressful office we saw in Bangkok so we were happy with our decision to do it here.

For once Yumi’s form was straightforward to fill and handed over to the officials. “Come and pick your passport up on Monday” she was told. It is probably because her visa is 4 times more expensive than Thomas’s we thought.

For Thomas it did not go as well. “Oh you’re French” they said. “You need to write a letter to explain why you want to go to China”. “We also need your hostel and flights bookings, bank statement”. Had Thomas been employed he would have needed a letter from his employer confirming his job situation on top of that. A colon inspection was the only missing on the list. Thank Buddha for that.

Luckily Thomas likes to spend time on his computer and in the afternoon all of the above was done. It took more time to find a place where he could print these documents than booking the hostels and writing the letter, but a friendly local drove Thomas to the internet place.

By 9.20am this morning (yes, the embassy is only opened from 9 to 11.30am, Monday to Friday.) Thomas had given all the documents and we are now expecting our shiny Chinese visas on Tuesday 10th.

1 comment:

Welcome to Asia and its bureaucracy...this reminds me the first time I arrived at Beijing airport. the clerks took my passport and during 2 long hours, I thought I had to go to the French embassy for a new one. Take it easy, you'll get soon the shiny Chinese visas. Beautiful photos, especially N°3...Take care,Dad